The importance of community

The community of central Victoria and Castlemaine in particular should really be singled out for note, in their support for seeking out alternative uses for… just about anything you can tip your hat at! But in our case, we’d like to acknowledge the incredible hunger we’ve seen for alternative building materials in this growing town, and the inspiring and unique applications that they have been put to for helping inspire our journey.

In Mat and Anna’s earlier role in running Pumphouse Design, they were often singled out to support clients to realise certain projects that just seemed too obscure for the general construction industry… these were the projects that required artistic vision on both parts, and kept inspiring Pumphouse as designer/builders… encouraging the Pumphouse team to continue feeding found materials into the community.

Central Victoria in the past decade, has given rise to experimentation with all sorts of reclaimed dwellings, one such example is the movement involving the school relocatable buildings! A concept that presents issues at many different levels, however, all stemming from the innate desire to recycle.

This community has shown a real dedication to reusing an existing resource with the foresight to create a retrofitted contemporary home. The region boasts many (hidden and public) well-restored structures that represent the long history of commitment to the architecture in this shire from the gold rush to the present day.

The confidence to establish The Salvage Yard in Castlemaine has stemmed from that broad ecological and artistic eye that this community of Central Victoria seems to be growing stronger with… and for that, the team of The Salvage Yard acknowledge our community as the engine behind this yard.